Hospital for Sick Children

About: Hospital for Sick Children is a healthcare organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 4097 authors who have published 3746 publications receiving 129066 citations. The organization is also known as: Sick Kids Hospital & SickKids.

Oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy for lung disease in cystic fibrosis

Abstract: Background Progressive lung damage causes most deaths in cystic fibrosis. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen) may prevent progressive pulmonary deterioration and morbidity in cystic fibrosis. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in cystic fibrosis. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials Register comprising references identified from comprehensive electronic database searches, hand searches of relevant journals and abstract books of conference proceedings. We contacted manufacturers of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Latest search of the Group's Trials Register: 04 February 2016. Selection criteria Randomized controlled trials comparing oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, at any dose for at least two months, to placebo in people with cystic fibrosis. Data collection and analysis Two authors independently assessed trials for inclusion the review and their potential risk of bias. Main results The searches identified 10 trials; four are included (287 participants aged five to 39 years; maximum follow up of four years) and one is currently awaiting classification pending publication of the full trial report. Three trials compared ibuprofen to placebo (two from the same centre with some of the same participants); one trial assessed piroxicam versus placebo. The three ibuprofen trials were deemed to have good or adequate methodological quality, but used various outcomes and summary measures. Reviewers considered measures of lung function, nutritional status, radiological assessment of pulmonary involvement, intravenous antibiotic usage, hospital admissions, survival and adverse effects. Combined data from the two largest ibuprofen trials showed a significantly lower annual rate of decline for lung function, percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second mean difference 1.32 (95% confidence interval 0.21 to 2.42); forced vital capacity mean difference 1.27 (95% confidence interval 0.26 to 2.28); forced expiratory flow (25-75%) mean difference 1.80 (95% confidence interval 0.15 to 3.45). The post-hoc analysis of data from two trials split by age showed a statistically significant slower rate of annual decline of percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity in the ibuprofen group in younger children, mean difference 1.41% (95% confidence interval 0.03 to 2.80) and mean difference 1.32% (95% confidence interval 0.04 to 2.60) respectively. In one trial, long-term use of high-dose ibuprofen was associated with reduced intravenous antibiotic usage, improved nutritional and radiological pulmonary status. No major adverse effects were reported, but the power of the trials to identify clinically important differences in the incidence of adverse effects was low. We did not have any concerns with regards to risk of bias for the trial comparing piroxicam to placebo. However, the trial did not report many data in a form that we could analyse in this review. No data were available for the review's primary outcome of lung function; available data for hospital admissions showed no difference between the groups. No analysable data were available for any other review outcome. Authors' conclusions High-dose ibuprofen can slow the progression of lung disease in people with cystic fibrosis, especially in children, which suggests that strategies to modulate lung inflammation can be beneficial for people with cystic fibrosis.

Specific arithmetic calculation deficits in children with Turner syndrome

Abstract: Study 1 compared arithmetic processing skills on the WRAT-R in 45 girls with Turner syndrome (TS) and 92 age-matched female controls. Results revealed significant underachievement by subjects with TS, which reflected their poorer performance on problems requiring the retrieval of addition and multiplication facts and procedural knowledge for addition and division operations. TS subjects did not differ qualitatively from controls in type of procedural error committed. Study 2, which compared the performance of 10 subjects with TS and 31 controls on the Keymath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test, showed that the TS group had less adequate knowledge of arithmetic, subtraction, and multiplication procedures but did not differ from controls on Fact items. Error analyses revealed that TS subjects were more likely to confuse component steps or fail to separate intermediate steps or to complete problems. TS subjects relied to a greater degree on verbal than visual-spatial abilities in arithmetic processing while their visual-spatial abilities were associated with retrieval of simple multidigit addition facts and knowledge of subtraction, multiplication, and division procedures. Differences between the TS and control groups increased with age for Keymath, but not WRAT-R, procedures. Discrepant findings are related to the different task constraints (timed vs. untimed, single vs. alternate versions, size of item pool) and the use of different strategies (counting vs. fact retrieval). It is concluded that arithmetic difficulties in females with TS are due to less adequate procedural skills, combined with poorer fact retrieval in timed testing situations, rather than to inadequate visual-spatial abilities.

Muscle insulin resistance: assault by lipids, cytokines and local macrophages.

Abstract: Purpose of reviewThe present review outlines possible mechanisms by which high fatty acids, associated with high-fat diet and obesity, impose insulin resistance on glucose uptake into skeletal muscle.Recent findingsIt is well established that muscle insulin resistance arises in conditions of high-fa

Exercise-induced cardioprotection is mediated by a bloodborne, transferable factor

Abstract: Exercise protects against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury but the mechanism remains unclear. Protection can be transferred from a remotely preconditioned human donor to an isolated perfused rabbit heart using a dialysate of plasma. We hypothesized that physical exercise preconditioning also confers cardioprotection through a humorally mediated effector dependent on opioid receptor activation. Thirteen male volunteers performed vigorous exercise (four 2-minute bouts of high-intensity exercise) and 1 week later they underwent remote ischemic preconditioning (four cycles of 5 min upper limb ischemia and reperfusion). Dialysates were prepared from blood collected before (control) and after the two interventions. Isolated rabbit hearts were perfused with the dialysates without and with co-administration of naloxone (opioid receptor antagonist) prior to 40 min regional ischemia and 2 h reperfusion. Exercise and remote ischemic preconditioning (rIPC) reduced infarct size from 60 ± 5 to 35 ± 5 % and from 57 ± 7 to 27 ± 3 % of the area at risk, respectively (p < 0.05 and < 0.01). Furthermore, post-ischemic left ventricular developed pressure was improved compared with controls (p = 0.08 for exercise and p = 0.04 for rIPC). Co-perfusion with naloxone abrogated the protective effects of exercise and remote ischemic preconditioned dialysates. In conclusion, high-intensity exercise preconditioning elicits cardioprotection through a humorally mediated dependent on opioid receptor activation, similar to rIPC.

Guidelines for the management of postoperative obstructive symptoms in children with Hirschsprung disease.

Abstract: Although most children with Hirschsprung disease ultimately do well, many experience a variety of ongoing problems after pull-through surgery. The most common include obstructive symptoms, soiling, enterocolitis and failure to thrive. The purpose of this guideline is to present a rational approach to the management of postoperative obstructive symptoms in children with Hirschsprung disease. The American Pediatric Surgical Association Board of Governors established a Hirschsprung Disease Interest Group. Group discussions, literature review and expert consensus were then used to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding causes, methods of diagnosis, and treatment approaches to children with obstructive symptoms following pull-through for Hirschsprung disease. Causes of obstructive symptoms post-pull-through include mechanical obstruction; persistent or acquired aganglionosis, hypoganglionosis, or transition zone pull-through; internal sphincter achalasia; disordered motility in the proximal intestine that contains ganglion cells; or functional megacolon caused by stool-holding behavior. An algorithm for the diagnosis and management of obstructive symptoms after a pull-through for Hirschsprung disease is presented. A stepwise, logical approach to the diagnosis and management of patients experiencing obstructive symptoms following pull-through for Hirschsprung disease can facilitate treatment. Level of evidence V.